Tuesday, 19 October 2004

And also an addition to the Blogroll, something I do only on alternate leap-years.

This one's from Sound and Fury, a mis-named blog if ever there was one, as it certainly isn't "A tale told by an Idiot....signifying nothing".

Bear with me: some stuff I post is "froth and bubble", designed for amusement and to refresh the intellectual palate between main courses of things of great worth and moment. This one's meat, with truffles and a rich, rich sauce.

Sounds exciting - not. But to anyone remotely interested in "Life, the Universe and Everything", the nature of mind and matter, it's heady stuff.

What is it about? I'll quote :

1. Contrary to Gardner's characterization, Roger Penrose didn't simply attack the dubious notion that "...in just a few decades...computers will be able to do everything a human mind can do." He wouldn't have gone to all the trouble of writing two hefty tomes on AI merely for the purpose of arguing against the giddy speculations "of a few artificial intelligence mavens". Anyone can do that. He wrote to argue for the utter impossibility of human-equivalent AI--an entirely different (and vastly more difficult) argument.

Dan Goss, the author, manages to distill the quintescence of many pages of already triple-distilled writing by some truly brilliant minds. I'm not sure I agree with him in all respects, but it's the type of writing that requires really careful perusal, and a lot of contemplation afterwards.

How have I managed not to spot this before? Well, his blog archives only go back 3 weeks. I was able to read every article on it in a few minutes. It will take me many hours though to digest what he's been saying.

Fortunately the author sent me an e-mail (larded with compliments) drawing my attention to it, otherwise I might have missed it, and would have been kicking myself afterwards when I finally did locate it.

I'll be posting later about these issues. But right now, I feel like the traditional Anaconda that's just swallowed an elephant. Whatever intellectual stimulation this blog has provided Dan in the past has been repaid a thousandfold. And there's more to come! Yummmmmmm.

About Me

Actually, I am a Rocket Scientist.
Also hormonally odd (my blood has 46xy chromosomes anyway) and for most of my life, I looked male, and lived as one, trying to be the best Man a Gal could be. Anyway, in May 2005 that started changing naturally for reasons still unclear, and I'm now Zoe, not Alan : happier and more relaxed not to have to pretend any more.
UPDATE - reason now identified as the 3BHSD form of CAH.

Reviews

This blog, written by a rocket scientist, is a fascinating collection of information, both personal and scientific, regarding intersex, transsexualism and related psychosocial and psychosexual issues....It is erudite and heartfelt. Just read the posts about the passport issue. You won't know whether to laugh, weep or crawl into a ball and rock gently in a corner - an amazing person.- David---The reason I so appreciate bright, perceptive people - as opposed to ideologues whose intelligence does little to illuminate - is that they manage to both instruct and learn with a certain grace. Among such rarities in the transblogosphere is Zoe, whose direct speech and clear humanity always make her worth reading, even if one doesn’t always agree with her every conclusion.- Val---The following is a request for permission to archive your A.E.Brain blog site which we have wanted to do for several years...The Library has traditionally collected items in print, but it is also committed to preserving electronic publications of lasting cultural value....Since (1996) we have been identifying online publications and archiving those that we consider have national significance....We would like to include A.E.Brain blog site in the PANDORA Archive...-Australian National Library